Offering encouraging word never loses power

The power of the spoken word may be diminishing in this day of texts, tweets and e-mails.

The human contact of looking someone in the eye and offering them an encouraging word will never lose its value.

The Rev. Bob Hanna of the Salem First Christian Church was thinking about the spoken word recently and about the film “As Good as it Gets.”

He is pretty sure it was the last film (in 1997) to win both Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar awards for Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

He played an obsessive compulsive romance novel author and she was a waitress that he fell in love with. His issues led her to break off their nascent relationship.

As she is ending it, he says, “I may be the only man on earth that recognizes that you are the most amazing woman on earth. I think most people miss that about you.

“I stand by and watch as they sit at their tables and you bring their food, clear away their tables and they never get the fact that they just met the most amazing woman alive.”

Hanna wrote in the church newsletter, “With that compliment, she melts.

“You may not be up for an Oscar, but you have an incredible power in the words you share with those around you.”

He quoted Proverbs 18:21, “The power of life and death are in the tongue.” Hanna also pointed to the book of James describing how the tongue it like a horse’s bit guiding the huge animal, like a rudder turning a large ship or a small fire growing to consume a forest.”

The pastor suggested starting each day by asking God to help you recognize those you come in contact with who are waiting for an uplifting word.

“We have incredible possibilities to impact the lives of those around us simply with words we say. In Genesis we read that God breathed life into humanity; we have the possibility to participate with God in that creative act by seeing the beauty God sees in each and every one of us.”

Coupled with a smile, a good greeting goes a long way to making someone’s day – and your own!

Why go to church?

Most of us have heard someone say, “I don’t need to go to a formal religious setting to find God – I can worship out in nature.”

The statement itself is true, but often used as a cop out for not being disciplined enough to participate with a like-minded group seeking the best for their community.

A recent survey of the “Nones” (those with no particular religious affiliation) found that they saw, however, the positive impact of such institutions.

They “think that churches and other religious institutions are a ‘benefit to society by strengthening community bonds (78 percent) and aiding the poor (77 percent).’”

But, a whopping 88 percent say they are not looking for a religion or a church for themselves.

Writing in the newsletter of John Knox Presbyterian Church in Keizer, Mary Jo Emmet told of her father being a forerunner “None.”

In the 1960s, he stopped going to the church he helped start over a disagreement with the pastor in the direction the church was taking. He didn’t go to church except for weddings and funerals after that.

Emmet wrote, “Early on, he was part of a growing trend, one of those that the Pew Research Center would identify in a 2012 survey as ‘Religiously Unaffiliated.’”

Nearly 20 percent of the population falls under that label. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a certain belief system.

The survey noted, “More than half say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth (58 percent), while more than a third classify themselves as ‘spiritual’ but not ‘religious’ (37 percent). And one-in-five (21 percent) say they pray every day.”

Emmet pointed to John Knox’s involvement in hunger issues with food collections and a community garden and the use of its building for various activities.

“Let’s appeal to others with projects/events that connect them with nature/care for the earth, or ways that they can ‘aid the poor.’

“As we come to share, learn and work together, may God’s promise made through Christ and Christ’s love through the Spirit’s presence then transform and bind us all,” she concluded.

Chuckles

The good folks at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Silverton offered the following chuckles of “Bulletin Bloopers” in a recent newsletter.

The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church.

Evening massage — 6 p.m.

The pastor would appreciate if the ladies of the congregation would lend their electric girdles for pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

The audience is asked to remain seated until the end of the recession.

Hank Arends is a retired religion/community events writer for the Statesman Journal who writes a weekly column on religion. He may be reached at hankarends@msn.com or (503) 930-9653.